About Me…

My name is Celia Castro. Many of your questions about my teaching can be answered by checking out my various social media videos and posts. I will add some here on this site but you can probably find out a lot more about me and my teaching style by checking my socials. I will fill some of it in here…

I have been singing as a classical soprano for my whole life now. I have studied at Mannes College of Music, then Hunter College, where I had the honor of learning a lot from the late Russell Oberlin. Then eventually, I made my way to Rutgers where I finally graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Music and Psychology. Then in 2022 I received a Masters in Music and Music Education at Teachers College Columbia University.

Much of what I teach has been formed from working with some of the most diverse and knowledgeable Masters in the vocal arena. In my early years I learned a great deal working with the late Shirlee Emmons and my long-time coach, Neal Goren. Then I had the pleasure and honor of working with bel canto genius, Randolph Michelson, before he passed away. I spent a couple of years soaking up the very sage Lindquist advice by David Jones and then worked with Inci Bashar from Kansas City, who single-handedly produced 100s of great singers during her years teaching. I worked with Bill Riley, who was Deborah Voigt and Heidi Skok’s teacher, and with him I learned more about the science of voice and how exercises we used in the studio could be used with proper pedagogical adjustments across different styles of voices. I worked with Ira Siff for musical and vocal interpretation of much of the Italianate music I sing. Most recently, for the past 3 years, I have worked with Dr. Bradley Williard, who has helped me organize and distill the many years of information into a more organic and holistic approach, which I now consider the lens through which I filter my own singing and my teaching. 

As you see, I have been on the winding road. While it meant that I took longer to find my center, it is also the reason my teaching is fluid, varied, flexible, and highly customized for each person. I have such an amazing array of exercises to pull from, so much experience, not only with my own voice, but with all the voices I heard and watched working with all of these people over the years. If you add the masterclasses I have attended by Birgit Nilsson at Manhattan School of Music when I was a wee babe, masterclasses later with Renee Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Ira Siff and so many others, as well as online workshops in musical theater I have taken, I have tools. Many different ones, for each singer and situation.